For my 29th birthday I wrote a post about encouraging others. My blog was new, and I wanted to use it as a catalyst for change. I believe encouragement can truly change the world in a good way, so it seemed like the right start.
#yearofencouragement
In researching for my post, I remembered my friend Takara’s social media challenge she called “tkssunshinethru29”. Every day, for a year, she challenged herself to publicly highlight someone who added positivity to her day.
I decided to take on a similar challenge for my 29th year. I would call it #yearofencouragement and every day, for a year, I would choose one person/organization/business to publicly applaud and encourage.
My Failure
Every day for a year would be 365 posts.
I reached my 30th birthday with a total post count of 68.
Pretty big failure, right?
That’s certainly how I felt.
I was discouraged from talking about my experience because I was embarrassed I had failed to meet my goal.
What I have now come to realize is that, as the good people of the world, we must stop worrying so much about failure.
Stop beating yourself up about your failures!
Failure is healthy. It means you are trying. It means you went for something.
Go For Your Goals
Sure, I missed my target in my #yearofencouragement challenge. But I still spent an entire year seeking out the good in the world. I made a difference, even if ever so small, in the lives of 68 different people through social media and said “good job, keep going”.
If I had been afraid of failing publicly at this challenge, I probably would have just filled my profile feed up with the same repeated faces and rotating backgrounds.
Instead, my profile feed from my #yearofencouragement is alive with diversity and light—with stories of people who deserve recognition.
Doing the #yearofencouragement challenge changed me as a person. It made my year better and it made me appreciate people more in general. I would encourage everyone to attempt your own #yearofencouragement at some point in your life.
A motivational speaker I heard recently spoke about how we all have two sides of ourselves. We have our best side, that we want everyone to see, and we have the side that we’d prefer to keep hidden. On social media, everyone is quick to show their best side, but he believes we need to show more of our other side.
Let’s talk more about how no one is perfect. We are all struggling and we all fail daily.
The world is hard enough right now, yet we continue to be so hard on ourselves.
Let’s stop that.
If you fail, own it.
Then, thank yourself for going for it in the first place.
Congrats to you for getting out there and making a go of it. What a beautiful goal to put forward into the world. Even if done in part and not in full, it’s a good deed done for 68 days and that’s something that others didn’t attempt.
One of my favorite quotes is this one from Teddy Roosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Thank you for your kind words and for sharing that quote, Linda. It inspired and motivated me and I’m sure it will do the same for others.